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The Hungerford massacre was a series of random shootings in Hungerford, Berkshire, on 19 August 1987, when Michael Robert Ryan, an unemployed part-time antique dealer and handyman, fatally shot 16 people, including his own mother, before committing suicide. The shootings, committed using a handgun and two semi-automatic rifles, occurred at several locations, including a school he had once attended. A police officer died in the incident, and many people were injured. 15 other people were also shot but survived. No firm motive for the killings has ever been established. It remains one of the worst firearms atrocities in UK history. A report was commissioned by the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd. The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was passed in the wake of the massacre, which bans the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricts the use of shotguns with a capacity of more than three cartridges. ==Perpetrator== The perpetrator of the Hungerford massacre was 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, an unemployed labourer and antiques dealer. He was born at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, near Hungerford, on 18 May 1960.〔Jeremy Josephs. (Hungerford – One Man's Massacre ). Retrieved 28 October 2005.〕 His father, Alfred Henry Ryan, was 55 years old when Michael was born. Alfred Ryan died in Swindon in May 1985 at the age of 80. At the time of the shooting, Ryan lived with his mother, Dorothy, a dinner lady at the local primary school. He had no siblings. There was extensive press comment on this, suggesting the relationship was 'unhealthy' and that Ryan was "spoiled" by his mother. A ''Guardian'' headline described Ryan as a "mummy's boy". Ryan was a bachelor and had no children. In the days following the massacre, the British tabloid press was filled with stories about Ryan's life. Press biographies all stated that he had a near-obsessive fascination with firearms. The majority claimed that Ryan had possessed magazines about survival skills and firearms, ''Soldier of Fortune''〔– 〕 being frequently named. Press reports claimed that he was obsessed with the ''Rambo'' film ''First Blood'', which was erroneously described as featuring events similar to the Hungerford massacre, when in fact there was no evidence that Ryan even owned a video recorder, let alone that he had seen the film.〔''Panorama: Violence on Television'' (BBC One, 15 February 1988)〕 Sylvester Stallone stated "I carry the can for every lunatic in the world who goes crazy with a gun...but it wasn't Rambo who sent Michael Ryan mad. In fact Rambo is the opposite of people like Ryan. He is always up against stronger opposition and never shoots first. Murderers are always saying, "God told me to kill" or "Jesus ordered me to kill" – so should the rest of us stop praying? There are always sick people out there who will hang their illness on to your hook."〔http://web.archive.org/web/20060104044543/http://www.jeremyjosephs.com/hunger.htm#if〕 Ryan's true motives are unknown and it is unlikely that they will ever be known as Ryan killed himself and his mother, the only other person who knew him well. Dr John Hamilton of Broadmoor Hospital and Dr Jim Higgins, a consultant forensic psychiatrist for Mersey Regional Health Authority, both thought he was schizophrenic and psychotic. Hamilton stated "Ryan was most likely to be suffering from acute schizophrenia. He might have had a reason for doing what he did, but it was likely to be bizarre and peculiar to him."〔 The local vicar the Reverend David Salt said on the first anniversary of the massacre "No one has ever explained why Michael Ryan did what he did. And that's because, in my opinion, it is not something that can be explained."〔 Ryan's body was cremated at the Reading Crematorium on 3 September 1987, 15 days after he took his own life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hungerford massacre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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